Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

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roadrash
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Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by roadrash »

I have had a lot of trouble installing the latest releases from Mint and Ubuntu and all are giving me the same issue. My last working system was Mint 18.04 MATE.
The only way I can get to the desktop from a live CD or when I have installed it to the hard drive is to edit the startup and add "noapic nomodeset". When I do this I can get to a fully working desktop in reasonable resolution. Everything still works after applying all the updates but doesnt improve. Then If I install the Nvidia 340 (recomeneded) driver and reboot, It ony gets as far as the login but cannot start a graphical desktop and pointer. It sounds like its stuck in a loop and keps trying but failing. I can only reset the PC & do a re-install from stratch again. When I did this on Ubuntu it showed a error about user manager and I found solutions online to cure it by editing the etc/gdm3/custom.conf i think it was and remove the "#" from the start of the line "WaylandEnable=false". I tried this on Mint and it still failed to bring up the desktop and kept looping.
Please can someone help me sort this?
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kc1di
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by kc1di »

Lets start with an overview of your system, please go to a terminal and type

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inxi -Fxz
and post the output here.
Easy tips : https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/ Pjotr's Great Linux projects page.
Linux Mint Installation Guide: http://linuxmint-installation-guide.rea ... en/latest/
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roadrash
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by roadrash »

Wrong list posted, sorry
Last edited by roadrash on Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
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kc1di
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by kc1di »

Just one observations from your output , according to Inxi you do not have an Nvidia graphics card so Nvidia 340 will not work you need Intell which should be part of the kernel.
I'll look a bit later and see if anything else could be wrong.
Easy tips : https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/ Pjotr's Great Linux projects page.
Linux Mint Installation Guide: http://linuxmint-installation-guide.rea ... en/latest/
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roadrash
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by roadrash »

I gave you the output from my laptop not my desktop sorry. Here is the right one:

System: Host: jon-desktop Kernel: 4.15.0-36-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1) Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine: Device: desktop Mobo: N/A model: 4CoreDual-VSTA serial: N/A BIOS: American Megatrends v: P2.30 date: 02/26/2008
CPU: Dual core Intel Core2 6400 (-MCP-) arch: Conroe rev.6 cache: 2048 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 8199
clock speeds: max: 2049 MHz 1: 2049 MHz 2: 2049 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA G92 [GeForce 9800 GT] bus-ID: 02:00.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.6 drivers: vesa,nouveau (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev)
Resolution: 1024x768@61.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 128 bits) version: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio: Card-1 VIA VT8237A/VT8251 HDA Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 80:01.0
Card-2 Hewlett-Packard driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 003-003
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-36-generic
Network: Card: VIA VT6102/VT6103 [Rhine-II] driver: via-rhine port: e800 bus-ID: 00:12.0
IF: enp0s18 state: unknown speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 451.0GB (2.0% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: Maxtor_7L250R0 size: 251.0GB temp: 53C
ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST3200826A size: 200.0GB temp: 53C
Partition: ID-1: / size: 135G used: 6.6G (6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6
ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.15GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 57.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 165 Uptime: 5 min Memory: 595.5/1993.2MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
Client: Shell (sudo) inxi: 2.3.56
roadrash
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by roadrash »

Anyone have a clue whats causing this and how to sort it please..
kukamuumuka

Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by kukamuumuka »

roadrash wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:48 am Anyone have a clue whats causing this and how to sort it please..
Try to start Mate via tty. Press Ctrl Alt F1 and login into tty and run

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startx mate-session -- :2
You get back pressing Ctrl Alt F8 or F7
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trytip
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by trytip »

did you run:
sudo nvidia-xconfig

what's in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf ?
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roadrash
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by roadrash »

I canot break out of the loop.. is there any way of booting up without starting x. I did try running those commands ftom recovery mode root shell and even switched from root to user and tried those commands again but no luck. I just got errors like unable to locate/open x configuration file.and error unable to write to directory etc/X11
kukamuumuka

Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by kukamuumuka »

roadrash wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 3:41 pm I canot break out of the loop.. is there any way of booting up without starting x. I did try running those commands ftom recovery mode root shell and even switched from root to user and tried those commands again but no luck. I just got errors like unable to locate/open x configuration file.and error unable to write to directory etc/X11
Do not run startx mate-session -- :2 from recovery mode.
roadrash
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by roadrash »

If use that command in recovery mode as root or as user, I get errors:
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to the X server: connection refused
xinit: server error
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/jon/.xauthority
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trytip
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by trytip »

delete

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.ICEauthority
.Xauthority
if you can't log in to delete just boot with a live mint. not sure if this is your issue but since you're locked out delete these files and see if a reboot will get you to desktop. hopefully your xorg.conf is OK
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roadrash
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by roadrash »

No luck here with this. As soon as I install the NVIDIA driver it gets stuck in this loop where it just can't a X. display. All I can do is reinstall Mint and then I'm back to a display with a low resolution and uses the Nvidia noveau driver. I need to be abale to get get the Nvidia driver installed. It used to work on mint 17.10 I think it was before I upgraded.
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Re: Mint 19 MATE - Cant get to desktop

Post by catweazel »

roadrash wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:08 am No luck here with this. As soon as I install the NVIDIA driver it gets stuck in this loop where it just can't a X. display. All I can do is reinstall Mint and then I'm back to a display with a low resolution and uses the Nvidia noveau driver. I need to be abale to get get the Nvidia driver installed. It used to work on mint 17.10 I think it was before I upgraded.

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Machine: Device: desktop Mobo: N/A model: 4CoreDual-VSTA serial: N/A BIOS: American Megatrends v: P2.30 date: 02/26/2008
I think the only thing you can do is try an earlier Mint or a different distro that's geared toward older hardware.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
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